JOSEPH NOHAVICKA ‘90 

Partner

Jaffe & Nohavicka 

When Joseph Nohavicka decided to return to school at the age of 27, he was married and ran his own business, a Wise potato chip distribution route in the South Bronx. It was profitable and successful but it simply wasn't providing him with the intellectual stimulation he craved.

So he decided to do something about it. Nohavicka worked full-time during the day and attended classes at night at Mercy College's Bronx campus. It was arduous and time-consuming, but worth every ounce of effort. He said he knew when he graduated that he could accomplish anything. Nothing was beyond his reach.

And so far, nothing has been.

Nohavicka is a partner at Jaffe & Nohavicka, a Wall Street-based law firm that specializes in civil trial and appellate practice in federal and state courts.

After graduating from Mercy in 1990 with a degree in English - a course of study he said thoroughly prepared him for the rigors of a legal education - he applied to law school. Three years later, he earned his juris doctorate from Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardoza School of Law in New York City. He received an "Order of the Barristers" award for outstanding courtroom performance, and served as legal issues editor of the Cardoza Law Forum.

Nohavicka is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts of the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a member of the Pro Bono Panel of the Southern District of New York, and active in the New York State Trial Lawyers' Association New York County Lawyers' Association; Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and the New York State Bar Association.

He has been a frequent contributor to the New York Law Journal over the past seven years, with articles including "Weighing the Equal Pay Act's Merit System, and "Jurors as Fact-Seekers."